February 14, 2010

Ray Stevens: Notice the Difference?

Each of these Greatest Hits CD's have the same songs on them but each of them feature a different cut-out picture of Ray. Curb Records issued this collection in May of 2008. The ten songs on this collection were lifted from the Box Set collection, a project that was issued in the middle of last decade. It's my understanding that the CD on the left was issued second while the CD on the right was issued first. I really don't know, other than from a collector's point of view, why Curb issued the CD with different pictures. My guess is future collectors may want to have a copy of each CD since the cut-out of Ray appears different on each release.

"Losin' Streak" is the name of a song and an album that Ray issued in 1973. The song is about a guy who can't give up his gambling addiction. It isn't a slow ballad...on the contrary, it's an electric guitar heavy up-tempo number. The Losin' Streak album is the one Ray once remarked that he put a lot of money into and recorded it in a brand new state of the art recording studio, by 1973 standards, but none of the songs became hits. The album has yet to be re-issued on CD. The rest of Ray's material on the Barnaby Records label, 1970-1975, is readily available on CD and Mp3 except the Losin' Streak album. The album featured a first...a big picture of Ray Stevens with a beard.

When I obtained my copy of the album several years ago it was like finding gold...well, I should say it was like finding gold when I came across it on-line for sale. When I played the album it was wonderful to hear and I won't hide how I felt...it was exciting hearing a lot of songs of Ray Stevens that up until that point in time I had never heard. The album ran the gamut of emotions, too. To this day I have no idea why it's never been re-issued on CD for exposure to a current audience. I feel that the lack of hit songs doesn't diminish the album one bit. There are 11 songs on the album. A few of the songs do find their way onto compilation projects from time to time but as far as an official re-issue of this album on CD there's been no such luck...as if the album is literally on a losin' streak.

1. Losin' Streak2. Just One Of Life's Little Tragedies3. Inside4. Things Work Out5. Bye Bye Love6. Being Friends7. Idaho Wine8. This Is Your Life9. Laid Back10. Easy Lovin'11. What Do You Know

The physical copy of the Ray Stevens single, "We The People", arrived in my mailbox a few days ago. The single as you can see is issued by Clyde Records. I do not know if Curb Records will at some point issue the upcoming CD to retail stores or not. Curb often releases Ray Stevens CD's to retail stores several months after the original release on Ray's own label. The music video hit count at You Tube is 2,668,402 as of this writing. As we get closer to late February I'm hoping that we hear an official release date for the upcoming album. As of now I'm still holding late February as the time frame for the release. I am also hoping more music videos will be forthcoming, too! In the back of my mind I have an idea of what the follow-up song will be and if I'm correct I'd love to see a music video made of it.

About Me

I'm a big fan of what's called classic country music. I love the HEE-HAW television program and I like watching vintage cartoons. I have four blogs...the main one is devoted to Ray Stevens. My Ray Stevens blog is written from a fan's perspective. The opinions and expressions discussed in this blog are of my own creation and should not be taken as representation of Ray Stevens and his office staff. I'm simply a dedicated, though opinionated, fan of Ray's who likes discussing his music and career. This fan-created blog page is something that I started when I got fed up with the lack of accurate information about Ray Stevens that was circulating on the internet.

2012

The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music became available on February 28th; It's an impressive set featuring 9-CD's and a booklet; There are 108 recordings altogether and the booklet gives in-depth detail about each of the songs and their impact on society; Ray covers practically all the major comedy/novelty songs that have been recorded over the last 60 plus years; It's a marvelous collection!!

2014

Ray's memoir, Nashville, is a great book! If you don't have a copy I suggest you purchase one...any fan of Ray Stevens should get this book.

2016

Ray's recording, "Dear America", demonstrates that America is still the greatest country on Earth regardless of internal conflicts and imperfections; A loving tribute to the country and a defiant plea that the country's values and traditions should still continue to be championed and fought for; Excellent recording!

2017

Season One DVD of Ray's television series; It contains the first 13 episodes broadcast on local PBS stations from earlier this year; These episodes originally aired on RFD-TV but they were repeated on PBS stations starting this past January; Some local PBS stations aired all 26 episodes from the RFD run while other local PBS stations aired the first 13 episodes and then began airing the PBS exclusives which became available over the summer months; Future DVD releases are expected.

2017

Season Two of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville series; This volume consists of episodes guest starring the likes of Bill Anderson, Con Hunley, Williams and Ree, Leroy Van Dyke, and many more!! A perfect companion to Season One; Each season contains 13 half hour episodes.

2018

The Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom officially opened to the public on January 18, 2018; This date is signifcant in the career of Ray Stevens in that it's the date he arrived in Nashville in 1962; The facility houses an entire array of entertainment from the main showroom to a piano bar, a gift shop, and it also houses his recording studios for audio and video productions; The upcoming Sixth Season of his PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville, is being taped at the showroom; These episodes represent the first to be taped at the venue.